


Private Conversations

by Setcheti



Series: Sick Days [2]
Category: Fantastic Four (Movieverse), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Medical Investigation (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Past Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-28 23:52:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Setcheti/pseuds/Setcheti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephen Connor lies to Fury but tells the truth to the Avengers - one Avenger in particular.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Private Conversations

**Author's Note:**

> This is the long-awaited follow-up story to Sick Days, hopefully it does not disappoint. And now I’m off to write more Welcome to Night Vale fic.

Dr. Connor showed up at Nick Fury’s house three days after the confrontation at Avengers Tower, as promised, and rolled his eyes when Fury very obviously tucked his gun back into its holster after opening the door for him. “Don’t make me put you on Prozac,” he warned. “Cautious is good and reasonable, paranoid is you need medication and a new job.”

Fury just snorted, holding out his hand for the folder Connor was carrying. “Well?”

“You need a few new doctors in Medical, as in all five of them, and their boss is headed for a psychiatric ward for the criminally insane if I have my way.” Fury’s eyebrow almost climbed off his forehead, but Connor just shook his head. “Details are in there,” he pointed at the folder he’d just handed over, “but in a nutshell Dr. Eames was turning into a mad scientist of the James Bond variety right under your nose, Nick. He got in touch with the World Security Council – Maria is having very loud fits over that apparent breach of security – and convinced them that he was onto something, and they told him to go for it and put him in touch with a few external resources he couldn’t have accessed on his own. They’re telling Maria now that they would never have given him the go-ahead if they’d known he didn’t have controls in place to keep the virus from spreading the way it did.” It was his turn to snort. “I don’t believe that part of it and she doesn’t either, but we are relatively sure they really didn’t know the full extent of his plans for Captain Rogers – some of which had nothing to do with solving the world’s medical problems and everything to do with him being not right in the head.” Fury frowned at that, and Connor sighed. “Your house bug-free?” He got a nod. “Dr. Eames is a sexual sadist, Nick.

 “ _What?!_ ”

“A sexual sadist,” Connor repeated. “Captain Rogers’ medical files were what tipped us off to that part of it. Eames had it down in there that the good captain was rendered immune to pain by the serum, and he’d trained his entire staff to regard any expression of pain on the captain’s part as psychosomatic and something they should ignore so he’d ‘learn not to do it anymore’.” He sighed. “For obvious reasons, we are _not_ letting the other Avengers know about that. They already knew that Eames and his staff didn’t seem to care if they hurt Rogers or not, but they don’t know that Eames was doing it on purpose and getting off on it – and I for damned sure don’t want them to find out that he had more in mind for his undying lab rat than just medical research, something some of the future ‘projects’ he had planned made all too plain. There is nowhere you could hide Eames from the Avengers if they knew what he’d really wanted, Stark and the others would hunt him down and then Banner would kill him.”

Fury stiffened. “If the Hulk kills anyone, we’ll have to…”

“If the Hulk kills Dr. Eames because you leaked to Banner what the bastard was really up to, you’d deserve what _you’d_ get immediately afterwards,” Connor cut him off. “Because _your_ name is on some of those files, _you_ signed off on some of what Eames and his staff were doing. And yes, I figured out why,” he said before Fury could protest that. “You thought you were agreeing to them not using painkillers or anesthesia because those things don’t work on Rogers, which is mostly true – _mostly_ ,” he specified, and was somewhat pleased to see the other man pale just slightly. “You thought you were being asked to sign off on them not continuing to use things they knew weren’t going to work. But that’s not what you were actually agreeing to, and considering how many times you’ve played them already that bunch over at the tower might just decide this was more of the same.”

“They don’t respect SHIELD’s authority, they’re out of control.”

“You should be very glad that’s not true,” the other man corrected, “because if it was, I’m pretty sure you’d be in Medical right now in traction and we’d still be picking pieces of Dr. Eames out of Stark’s carpet.”

“Captain Rogers wouldn’t have…”

“Oh yes he would have, that day.” Connor rolled his eyes. “You may have been too off to notice, Nick, but he wasn’t exactly himself. He only just barely had it under control – like I pointed out when I came in there the first time, if he’d meant to kill Eames the guy would have already been dead. The kid breaks two-hundred pound sandbags with one punch, remember? That’s why he usually never hits anyone who isn’t already trying to kill him.”

Fury did remember, but he latched on to something else – only partially because he didn’t want to think about the idea that a mostly out-of-control Rogers would have flat-out kicked his ass if Coulson hadn’t redirected his attention at a crucial moment.  He’d also realized the day after the incident that Coulson had distracted Rogers on purpose, which meant Coulson also thought Rogers would have kicked Fury’s ass. He and Coulson _really_ needed to have a talk. “Wait, the first time? How many times have you been up there?”

“I’ve been up there once a day since that day – I just came from there, in fact.” The doctor shrugged. “Captain Rogers is doing better, his fever is almost gone. He’s miserable, though. He hasn’t been sick in a long time, but he’s trying so hard not to be a cranky pain in the ass like his teammates all were that it’s painful to watch.” He smirked. “And as for the rest of them, Thor’s mother is keeping everyone in order.”

Another thing Nick Fury knew he didn’t want to talk about was Thor’s mother. Although… “Why hasn’t she stopped Thor from making a mess out of the weather around the Tower?”

“You’re assuming he’s the one doing that,” Connor told him. “He’s not, she is – not intentionally, of course. She’s doing her best to keep it down, but she and Thor both said that the atmosphere here on Earth is a lot more…responsive than it is on Asgard.”

“Is she leaving soon?”

“As soon as her son is completely recovered, yes.” Connor grinned at him. “Of course, she’s still planning to send back an Asgardian cook for the Tower, she thinks the Avengers aren’t eating properly – especially Stark, she says he’s too skinny. And she wants them to have backup the next time you decide to pay them a visit.”

“Oh no, that is _not_ …”

“No one’s asking you, Nick.” He shrugged again. “It’s Stark’s tower, it’s the Avengers’ _home_ , they can have whoever and whatever they want in there. Or in this case, whoever and whatever Frigga wants in there, because even Stark won’t venture to argue with her.”

Fury’s lip curled. “Because she’s a ‘goddess’?”

Connor snorted. “No, because she’s a mother – a good one, which is something most of those people have only read about in books and Rogers lost when he was sixteen.”

There wasn’t a whole lot Fury could say to that; he had all of their files, he knew exactly how true it was. And he realized that he was getting irritable for no good reason again, which Dr. Powell had told him in no uncertain terms meant he couldn’t come back to work yet. He huffed out a frustrated breath and stalked over to his couch, plopping down on it and dropping the file onto the coffee table. And he made a better effort to get control of himself, because snapping and snarling at Stephen Connor wasn’t going to get him the information he wanted – Connor was nowhere near afraid of him, just like Coulson wasn’t. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, at least halfway meaning it. “Dr. Powell told me the side effects of all those drugs Medical had been giving me were going to linger for a while, he said my adrenaline was spiking.”

“I know – that’s why I didn’t yell at you yet.” Connor settled himself into a chair, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’ve already been over your test results, if it’s not getting better by the end of the week we’ll try putting you on something to fix it. Because you can’t work like this, Nick – Stark only gets away with it because he’s rich.”

“And because his CEO is the queen of damage control.” Fury sighed. “So I’m basically going to need an entire new staff for Medical. Anything else?”

“A few new security people,” Connor told him. “Some of your current ones have divided loyalties – in fact, turns out one of them has a connection to one General Ross, who now apparently has an interest in both Banner _and_ Rogers.” He indicated the folder. “It’s in there. Also, I think you need to have a talk with Phil.” He shook his head when the other man started to agree with that. “Not about the other night, about that incident a month or so ago when he suddenly decided he was Barton and Romanov with a little dash of Rogers thrown in. He’s too old to be doing that shit, Nick, and he’s not listening to me – and the Avengers can’t really call him on it because Stark’s even older than he is. I think you can get him to set reasonable limits for his physical involvement, though. He’ll listen to you about that, because he’s seen you set limits for yourself over the years.”

Fury nodded slowly. It was true, he had been forced to scale back on his physical involvement somewhat in the field – he was still good, and he knew it, but he’d finally reached a point where he’d had to admit to himself that he wasn’t as good as he’d been ten or fifteen years ago. Which did put Coulson’s interference three days ago in a new light. “I’ll talk to him about it,” he agreed. “You’re right, he’ll take that from me where he wouldn’t from anyone else.” He raised an eyebrow. “I suppose you’re going to tell me that him being so tight with the Avengers is a good thing?”

Connor nodded. “It is right now. They all respect him and they do listen to him – because he listens to them, too. That, and they’ve accepted him as part of the group, as I’m sure you noticed when Rogers started to defend him from you the other day.”

Fury glowered at him. “I was not being a bully.”

“You were, actually, but it wasn’t entirely your fault, and I made sure everyone involved understood that. The doctor shrugged. “Dr. Richards even offered to analyze the drugs Medical had been giving you if we didn’t have time to do it.”

That brought the scowl back. “I do not like the Avengers working with the Fantastic Four, I didn’t want that to happen.”

“And again, that’s their choice, not yours,” Connor told him. “And I’d advise you to stop poking that situation with a stick if you don’t want to alienate your team leader any more than you already have, because outside of his teammates Ben Grim is Captain Rogers’ best friend.” Fury looked like he didn’t understand why he should care about that, and Connor rolled his eyes. “Nick, think about it. Most of the rest of the Avengers are getting older – even Banner is getting older. Sue Storm is still aging normally too, and her husband is aging slower than she is but he’s still aging. That leaves Thor, Ben Grim, Johnny Storm and Captain Rogers as the last superheroes standing when the rest of them die – and Thor will eventually have to go home. It is better for Captain Rogers’ mental health to have some close friends who will be around as long as he will, because without that…well, bad things could happen.”

Fury had to concede – again – that the doctor was right. He didn’t have to concede it out loud, though. “I’ll keep that in mind,” was what he said instead.

“You’d better,” Connor advised, standing up. “Because if Rogers decides you’re the enemy – and in spite of all the damage control Phil’s been doing he’s damn close to being there right now – you will never get that team back again.” He made a face. “I meant what I said earlier, Nick. I realize that playing games and pulling strings is the way SHIELD – and you personally – work. I get that, I even understand why you do things that way. But _you_ have to remember that the Avengers aren’t all agents, nor do they want to be. They don’t see you being practical and doing your job, they see you manipulating them and using them, and they see you being mean or even downright cruel for no apparent reason. They see you as a bad guy, a bully.” He sighed. “Captain Rogers…he doesn’t like bullies. You might have noticed that Stark has dialed it down a few notches to get himself under that wire.”

The other man’s jaw set. “He needed to, he was – and still is – an asshole.”

“On purpose, a lot like you are,” the doctor reminded him. “But he dialed it down once he figured out that Rogers would never fully trust him if he kept it up.” He sighed again. “I think…I think maybe someone needs to sit down at some point and figure out who the original bully was. Because whoever they were, they made one hell of a bad impression on that kid, and because of them he’s got the bar set so high that sometimes even he can’t reach it.” He raised a hand before Fury could comment. “He’s a human being, Nick – and he’s only got twenty-seven years of life experience to draw on, not ninety-seven, and most of that experience is in being too stubborn to give up, on anything, even when he really should have. I’m not asking you to be the person who fixes that problem, I’m just asking you to keep it in mind when you deal with him and _try_ not to make it worse.”

Fury bristled a little – but just a little. “You don’t think I can do that?”

Connor shook his head. “I’m not sure anyone can. Because the only people who knew him well enough to really get through to him? Are all long dead.”

 

Stephen Connor walked out of Nick Fury’s house, got in his car and started the long drive back to SHIELD headquarters with a lot on his mind – and he needed time alone to think, which was why he’d deliberately made this house call knowing he’d be driving back during rush hour. Any delay on his part getting back might have raised a red flag with someone somewhere, and Connor had been very careful not to raise red flags for a very long time. He was still kicking himself for what had happened at Avengers Tower that first morning…but it had been Europe all over again, with them a week out of their latest stay on base and Steve right back to trying to pretend he was never anything but okay. It had happened every time they’d had to hit the base for a while, the weight of impossible expectations weighing the kid down, making him think everyone was looking for him to be infallible. Connor, then called Sgt. Dugan or Dum-Dum depending on who was doing the calling, had gotten to the point where he’d hated returning to base at all, because as soon as they got there it would start all over again. Even and especially from Peggy Carter, which was the part he’d hated most of all. He wouldn’t have gone so far as to say she was using the kid – he really did think she’d actually liked Steve, and it had been obvious she was physically attracted to him – but it had also been obvious, to him and Falsworth at least, that Peggy had been manipulating the situation to the Army’s advantage and they hadn’t liked it one little bit.

Of course, he’d lied to Fury about a few other things too, although they were smaller things. Frigga _was_ messing up the weather around the Tower on purpose – just enough to keep helicopters and other light aircraft from getting too close. Say, close enough to drop something on the roof or to shoot something with any accuracy through one of the windows. Nobody in the Tower had let go of the idea that SHIELD might attack them, the place was thrumming with tension everywhere but Steve Rogers’ bedroom, which was an oasis of calm where everybody was doing the best they could to pretend that nothing whatsoever was wrong.

Steve knew, of course – of course he knew, he wasn’t _that_ sick – but he was letting them get away with it because he also knew that coming in to sit with him was giving all of them time to relax, to decompress. Which was why he’d been trying so hard not to be cranky, or so Connor had thought. Banner had said it wasn’t, not really. “There’s some history there you’re not aware of,” the other doctor had told him the day before when he’d commented on it, although he hadn’t elaborated further. “We’re trying to make it easier on him, so he doesn’t have to try quite so hard not to be a cranky pain in the ass – which seems to actually be a symptom programmed into the virus. It keeps the victim hypersensitive which keeps them on the edge of overstimulation, keeps their attention focused on trivial things like the texture of the sheets on the bed.” He smirked. “Steve actually clued me in on that one, he’s got really acute senses anyway so he noticed the difference right away. Tony had to loan him some silk sheets, it got so bad he couldn’t even sleep.” 

And Connor had let himself be redirected into a discussion of what they had learned about the virus and away from a discussion of Steve Rogers the person, because it was Banner and if Banner didn’t think it was any of his business then it probably wasn’t. Connor was not naïve enough to think he still knew Steve as well as he once had; and even if he had been, three days previous he’d had that confirmed by Banner…

 

Three days previous, Connor had followed Bruce into the kitchen, not sure what to expect. “Jarvis, privacy mode,” Bruce requested softly, and then folded his arms across his chest, frowning at the taller man. “Tony’s not really firing on all thrusters right now, but he’ll remember what happened later and then he’s going to go crazy, so I need to have some answers for him.” He smiled slightly when the doctor pretended confusion. “It was kind of obvious you’ve given that lecture before, Dr. Connor – and whether Steve realized it or not, since he’s also not firing on all thrusters, his reaction made it pretty plain he’d heard it before. Then you followed that up with an offhand comparison of your Dr. McCabe to Falsworth, one of Steve’s Howling Commandos – you weren’t mentioning someone you’d heard stories about, you were talking about someone you both knew. So...are you the only one?”

Connor frowned. “Privacy mode?”

“Since all the bugs are deactivated? No one but Jarvis can hear what’s going on inside this room.”

The doctor sighed, nodding slowly. “Yes, so far as I know, I’m the only one of the old team still around. I went to the others’ funerals, so I’m pretty sure about that.” He hesitated again. “But I’ve heard rumors about an assassin the Russians call their Winter Soldier…”

“It’s Bucky, we know – Natasha saw a sketch Steve had made of him and told Phil, and Phil told the rest of us when Steve wasn’t around.” It was Bruce’s turn to sigh. “She and Phil and Clint are trying to find him now, but he appears to have gone to ground again. We’ll tell Steve as soon as he resurfaces and then we’ll all go get him and bring him in. Probably either secretly or against orders, because Phil is pretty sure Fury has known all along and has plans of his own.” He snorted softly. “What I’m trying to say is…be more careful, ‘Dr. Connor’. Losing Bucky twice would destroy Steve, which is why we’re taking steps to prevent it from happening, but losing his friend Dum-Dum would hurt him too.” A crooked smile. “Your team is your family, you know.”

The other man sighed as well. “Yeah. It was stupid of me, but it just slipped out – it’s a talk I’d had to have with him before, and more than once. Every time we’d hit the base for a while it would start again. Even his girl Peggy treated him like he was supposed to be more than human a lot of the time, until I finally took her aside one day and did my best to make her see reality.” He made a face. “Unfortunately, it didn’t really click for her until the end of his next mission…which just happened to be the one he didn’t come back from.”

Bruce winced. “Okay, that explains a lot.” He put a hand on Connor’s arm, squeezing, and saw the other man react to the more-than-human strength evident in his grip. “I’m not threatening you, I’m warning you,” he explained quietly. “Steve is more like me than they think he is, and Fury came way too close to finding that out today. You know that, right?” When Connor nodded again, Bruce let go of his arm. “I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page.” A shrug. “Steve and I…we’re sort of brothers, the way I see it. He’s my _little_ brother. And that means something to me…and to the Other Guy, too.”

Okay, _that_ had been a threat. Connor didn’t think it had been directed solely at him, not really, but it still was what it was. “SHIELD doesn’t know about me. Nobody does,” he admitted quietly. “I wouldn’t have let Steve find out on purpose, it’s too dangerous – for him and for me. If he figures it out before I get to talk to him about it…let him know I don’t blame him for it, okay?”

“I’ll do that. He carries enough guilt on his soul as it is.”

Connor snorted softly, shaking his head. “Undeserved guilt – remember, the Army in general and our CO in particular treated Steve like he was supposed to be more than human.” He took a risk and clapped a hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “He really is a lot like you, Banner…but he’s a lot more bloodthirsty. Lucky thing for all of us that he’s your _little_ brother, huh?”

“Yeah, it is.” Bruce smiled, though. “You’d better get back out there before Agent Hill comes looking for you. She doesn’t trust us.”

Connor shook his head. “She doesn’t trust anyone, actually – not you, not me, not even Phil really. Don’t take it personally, it’s just the job.”

As soon as he had left the room, Natasha appeared from the hall, shaking her head. “It is not just the job.”

“Nope,” Bruce agreed. He raised an eyebrow. “Think she was in on it?”

Natasha shrugged. “Possibly. She did not contract the virus when everyone else did. We can find out later, for now it is unimportant. I would not trust her either way.”

Bruce nodded. “Yeah, me either.”

 

Two days and a lot of work later, Connor walked into Stark’s lab and glanced up at the ceiling. “Jarvis…privacy mode.”

“Sir?”

“Sure, go ahead.” There was a buzz – the one Connor remembered from his first visit to the tower, and then one of the billionaire’s eyebrows went up. “I don’t know how you knew to do that…”

“Dr. Banner.”

“Oh. Jarvis can still hear us, you realize.”

“It’s Dr. Banner I don’t want hearing us,” Connor told him. He pulled a few sheets out of the clipboard case he was carrying and tossed them down on the desk. “I figured you should know, though.”

Stark slowly picked them up and started to scan them…and then he stopped and very obviously read back over something. And then again, his jaw clenching. The eyes he raised back to Connor’s had darkened so much – with rage – that they were almost black. “You’re sure?”

“The Captain’s medical records and Eames’ own files pretty much confirmed it, and we found some supposed ‘security’ footage from Medical that…well, you don’t want to see it and I wish I hadn’t, but so far as evidence goes it’s damning.” He sighed. “I believe you understand why I don’t think Dr. Banner needs to know about this?”

“Because he’d stomp SHIELD headquarters flat until he found Eames, and then he’d probably rip the bastard limb from limb, maybe even eat him? Yeah, I got that – good call, even.” The eyebrow went back up. “How do you know I won’t go after Eames myself?”

“If they send him anywhere that isn’t a secure facility for the criminally insane – which was my recommendation since they said we can’t kill him – then I’m sure you’ll find a way to handle the problem that doesn’t involve having SHIELD and the Army team up to take out the captain’s bigger, greener, but somewhat less homicidal brother,” Connor said. That made both of Tony’s eyebrows go up, and the doctor shook his head. “After Bucky fell, Steve dragged himself back inside that train, pulled his mask back on, and…well, the only HYDRA personnel left living on the train when he was done were Zola and the engineer, and that was only because the rest of our team got to Zola first and trapped him in the engine room _with_ the engineer.”

Stark nodded slowly, and Connor could see him piecing together things he already knew with what he’d just been told. “I’ve read dad’s journal, the inquest into that really pissed him off.”

“It pissed all of us off,” Connor confirmed, knowing he was further confirming other things at the same time and not really caring – he knew Bruce would have already told Tony who he really was. “They raked Steve back and forth over the coals for hours and then finally ‘decided’ that they would let him off with a reprimand for being careless in the field.” His jaw clenched. “I was watching through the binoculars that day, when it happened. The mission almost went FUBAR because they were expecting us, not because Steve screwed up – more to the point, they were expecting Captain America and our intelligence had told us they wouldn’t be. The whole thing was a trap, and I’ve never been entirely sure that HYDRA didn’t have some help setting it.”

“Dad wasn’t either.” Tony nodded again. “Testing his limits or tightening the leash?”

Connor shrugged. “Both. Although if I’d realized then that Peggy had been _sent_ out after him once the inquest was over…” He saw the other man’s startled look. “Yeah. He wanted to be alone and we were watching his back, we knew she went out there – thought it was because he was upset and she went to make him feel better, not to reinforce the party line.” Stark’s mouth dropped open. “Yes, she did. She was taking some heat from the brass about being ‘Captain America’s girl’, I’m sure they used that as leverage…but it’s not like the brass were out there when she found him to talk, and if I’d known she was going to finish what they started that day I’d have shot her and said the Germans did it.”

“So she didn’t…”

“I didn’t say she didn’t have feelings for him,” Connor corrected quickly. “She did. I’m just saying the brass were using that to keep the leash tight, and they’d convinced her it was for the best.”

Stark swallowed. “Did Dad know?”

“Yes, because I told him – although he knew something was up before that, he just hadn’t put it all together yet.” Connor gave him a lopsided grin. “We _were_ all kind of busy at the time.”

“True.” Stark looked at the papers in his hands again, then held them up. “Jarvis, scan these and bury them, along with all records of the conversation we’re having right now – nobody but me gets access, and I do mean nobody.”

“Understood, sir.” A pause. “Done, sir. Shall I link related records to these?”

Both men froze. “Related records?” Stark asked. “What related records? From SHIELD?”

“I can save and seal those as well, sir.”

“Do it, I’ll look at it all later – and don’t let me forget that I need to.” Jarvis responded in the affirmative, and Tony handed the papers back to Connor. “I’ll find a way to let you know what else he’s got. When do we get Dr. McCabe?”

“Tomorrow.” Connor tucked the papers back into the folder inside the clipboard and clamped it shut again. “After what we found…no coming in to SHIELD for any reason, not even a punctured lung, not even if he’s bleeding from the eyes. I’ll bring help to you if something serious happens.”

“We’d have asked you to anyway.” Stark fished a printout out of a pile on the desk and handed it to him. “Since one of Hill’s people seemed reluctant to leave the Tower that morning, Natasha asked Jarvis to find out why.”

Connor scanned the printout and sighed, shaking his head. “Yes, that would be why. Dammit.”

“You be careful,” Stark warned him, and shook his head at Connor’s startled look. “Steve has protection out the ass, now even more than before – Bruce and I stuck a tracker in him last night, and there’s now an automated system checking his location every five minutes forever. They absolutely cannot hide him from us anywhere on Earth. You, though…”

“I don’t have that, no,” Connor admitted. “But I have…other ways of getting around SHIELD.” A small, hard smile. “After all, I helped your dad set the thing up in the first place. It’s too big for me to bring down now, but I can slip under their radar if I need to.”

“Good to know,” Tony agreed, and left it there.

 

That same afternoon, Connor finished checking Steve’s ribs, which seemed to be firming up a little but still weren’t healed, and stood up. “A few more days,” he told the younger man, patting his leg. “Just hang in there.”

Steve nodded, blinking at him. “You’re bringing Dr. McCabe…when?”

“Tomorrow. You’ll like him, don’t worry,” Connor assured him. “And I know Stark’s already run a scarily deep background on him, he’d probably show it to you if you asked.”

A shrug. “Maybe later.”

Connor smiled. “Get some sleep, Steve.”

That made Steve huff – the virus was making him irritable as all hell and the doctor knew it – but he had just reached the door when one whispered word stopped him. “Tim?”

Connor stiffened all over, then made himself relax and turn halfway around. “Yes, Steve?”

Steve just stared at him for a moment, and then something in his eyes broke and he looked away. “I’m…I’m so sorry.”

Connor slowly shook his head. “I’m not.”

“But…”

“I’m not,” Connor repeated, taking a step away from the door but not any more than that. “I _like_ my life, Steve. And I _have_ my life because of you.”

The tears started. “But if you…then that means _Bucky_ …”

Shit. The doctor closed the distance between them in two long steps and sat down on the side of the bed again, gripping Steve’s shoulders but not shaking him. “He is, yes – the Russians found him and brainwashed him, they call him the Winter Soldier. He’s gone to ground right now, but as soon as he shows up on the radar again I’ve been told you guys are going to go get him and bring him home.” When Steve started to cry in earnest, Connor pulled the younger man into his arms and just held on. “It’s okay, Steve, it’s okay. You’ll get him back, they won’t settle for anything less.”

Steve’s hands clenched in his shirt. “Please don’t… _please_ don’t disappear, Tim.”

Connor felt tears sting his own eyes…and a fresh burn of hatred for Fury and SHIELD sizzle in his chest. His friend had deserved better than this, a lot better. “Not without telling you where I’m disappearing to, I promise.”

It was a promise he was going to keep. Because as the last person left who really knew Steve, he knew he had some fixing to do.


End file.
